National Game of the Week: #7 Indiana @ #3 Oregon
I wrote earlier in the season that Oregon has emphatically answered their pre-season questions. The new offensive line gelled quickly and has shown no slippage. Dante Moore has needed virtually no time to get acclimated to being the full-time starter after a series of veteran transfers leading the Ducks’ offense. The defense has been lights out, especially at home. With all that said, Indiana has performed much better than any team Oregon has played so far. I say the have “performed” better because they’re probably not more talented on paper than Penn St, but then again, Penn St just lost to UCLA. It shouldn’t be controversial to say that Curt Cignetti is one of the nation’s elite coaches and definitely knows how to get the most out of his teams. I’m especially interested to see how well both teams run the ball against defenses that have done very well against ground attacks so far. If either team can get a big advantage in that phase, it could be the difference in the game.
Also of note
- #8 Alabama @ #14 Missouri- No rest for the weary in Tuscaloosa. After big wins against Georgia and Vanderbilt, the Tide simply go on the road to play a noon Eastern game against an undefeated, top-15 team.
- #1 Ohio State @ #17 Illinois- In the four previous matchups between these teams when both are ranked, Illinois is 4-0. That settles it! It’s another 9 AM PT game in a loaded early slate.
- #6 Oklahoma @ Texas- The Longhorns have deservedly fallen out of the top-25 with a second loss, but this is a clash of two really, really good defenses.
- #15 Michigan @ USC- This would probably be my choice for games in the evening timeslot. Florida-TAMU, Kansas-TTU, and Georgia-TTU would make for a pretty amazing quad-box if your TV provider enables it.